Imagine This

Last weekend, I attended the Future of the Catholic Literary Imagination Conference at the University of Dallas.

I drove over on Thursday, conferred on Friday and Saturday, and drove back on Sunday. I was originally going to fly, but after my two huge drives this past summer, nine hours seems like a medium-length commute at this point. Besides that, flying is generally terrible these days, and I’d have to rent a car, I’d be on a schedule. Driving, I wouldn’t have to worry about that, plus I could just throw various pieces of clothing and other items in the car instead of, you know, actually packing.

It was an enjoyable time, and a helpful mental reset, and no, 90% of the conversations did not involve people chewing over the question: What is Catholic literature, anyway, guys?

(It was only about 82%.)

I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow of either the events or my Departing Thoughts. Many of the panels were helpful, interesting and entertaining, but my primary personal takeaway centered on my own writing path going forward in a way that was more via negativa than anything else, which surprised me.  As in: Okay. That’s not me. Neither is that. Nope, can’t relate. Not what I want to do at all.

Which is clarifying.

So, highlights:

• Well, Dorian Speed, of course! Dorian is my wonderful friend who read an excerpt from her funny and smart novel-in-progress at a panel of  students from the University of St. Thomas MFA in Creative Writing program.

• Christopher Beha, editor of Harper’s and author of a few novels, including most recently The Index of Self-Destructive Acts, did a Q & A and a reading. I was not a huge fan of the novel (just to make sure my initial impression held up, I reread it the week before the conference… and it did), but Beha’s discussion of writing and literature was marvelous and very thought-provoking. He is presently working on a book about why he, a cradle Catholic who left as a young adult, returned to the Church.

• Jared Zimmerer of the Word on Fire Institute was part of a panel on 20^th century Catholic writers – other panelists spoke on Percy and Greene (the latter in a Pope Francis framework, so, yeah) – and Zimmerer’s paper was on Russell Kirk, specifically Kirk’s ghost stories. His presentation was great and eye-opening, the central point being that Kirk saw the function of a ghost in literature (and perhaps in life, since he firmly believed in ghosts) as a way of giving the past a voice in the present. Fascinating.  

• Glenn Arbery, president of Wyoming Catholic College, read from his novel, Boundaries of Eden, which I promptly bought from the Wiseblood Books table, and am enjoying very much almost as we speak.

• The Friday night banquet featured a stunning jazz performance of Dana Goia reading his poetry and music – some featuring his lyrics, others instrumental – with the amazing Helen Sung on piano, as well as other instrumentalists and a marvelous vocalist. It was absorbing, exciting and quite moving.

And then Saturday night – well. We were treated to a reading of Will Arbery’s Pulitzer Prize- finalist play Heroes of the Fourth Turning from the UD Theatre Department, with a brief discussion afterwards with a few of the actors, the director, and Will Arbery’s father – Dr. Glenn Arbery. Which, if you know what the play is about, is…and was…fascinating.

I have more to say on this last point, not surprisingly, considering Heroes was a hot topic of conversation in the Catholic world when it was first presented on the New York stage a few years ago. Right now, I’ll just say that the reading was stunning – although I think I would prefer to see those last ten minutes performed physically in the landscape of a stage set rather than read – and the play was not quite what I expected (even though I had read it back in 2019).

• Finally, Ron Hansen. Hansen – the author of Mariette in Ecstasy, Atticus and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, as well as other novels, short stories and essays – is not only Catholic, but a permanent deacon. I had had email contact with him years ago when he wrote the introduction to the Loyola Classics edition of The Edge of Sadness, but this was the first time I’d met him. He was around all weekend, did a reading of a very funny short story, preached at Mass, and was just…around. Hanging out, accessible, chatting with whoever approached him. Such a nice fellow and a wonderful writer.

There were other moments, and conversations and encounters with people I “knew” online, had maybe met once in person – or not – as well as others. Bernardo Aparicio and Katy Carl of Dappled Things, Greg Wolfe of Slant Books, poet and novelist Sally Thomas, James Matthew Wilson, Maggie Gallagher, Gloria Purvis, Joshua Hren, Tsh Oxenreider, Cate Harmon of Ignatius Press, Jennifer Frey, Haley Stewart, Abigail Favale, Charlotte Allen, and others. Good times.

More on Heroes of the Fourth Turning in the next couple of days.